Breviary Concerns

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I have started to pray the LOTH with Benedictine Daily Prayer, A Short Breviary, Second Edition. However, I have just discovered that the editor of this breviary is a Lutheran pastor. My question is: is it ok to use this breviary or should I return to my Roman Rite one?
 
Also, the Psalms are from an inclusive language version of the Grail Psalter.
 
@oralabora is the go-to person for this kind of question.

The only thing I know is that if you want to pray the Church’s liturgy rather than private prayer, you need to use the approved version for your country.
 
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alexl437 said:
LOTH with Benedictine Daily Prayer, A Short Breviary, Second Edition. However, I have just discovered that the editor of this breviary is a Lutheran pastor. My question is: is it ok to use this breviary or should I return to my Roman Rite one?
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Does this Breviary have an imprimatur or nihil obstat in the front of the book?
 
Yeah. Go back to the Roman one. Don’t use something from a Lutheran.
 
I have a copy, among the various liturgical books I own, but I don’t use it. It isn’t an approved version.

It really is a pity because it is beautifully done and it is a very decent simplification of the original Benedictine schema. I don’t understand why someone would go through all the trouble of producing it without using approved texts. For those of us who are sticklers about that sort of thing (i.e. we want our devotion to be liturgy), it renders it unusable. I’m sure if approved texts had been used, under the patronage of a monastery they could have had it approved for at least oblate use.

I would suggest using the LOTH or an approved monastic schema. For the latter it may be hard to find something in English; Latin or Latin-French is possible for Schema A (the original Benedictine schema) and French for schema B (though now out of print).

While I now mostly use monastic Schema B, there is enough Benedictine influence and traditions in the Roman LOTH that I am not shy to use it when pressed for time or when travelling. If one can get past the 4-week distribution and the NT canticle at Vespers, there are a lot of things borrowed from the Benedictine Office (the original one).

That said, I have found over the years that many monasteries have fairly novel schemas that are not in any official book (the one for Benedictines is “Ordo Cantus Officii”; yes I have a copy but it’s also available on-line). One in particular that seems popular is a hybrid of the Roman Office and the Monastic with the OOR combined with Lauds and mid-day prayer on a schema close to the Roman, and using the Monastic Antiphonary of 1934 for Vespers.
 
OraLabora said:
I have a copy, among the various liturgical books I own, but I don’t use it. It isn’t an approved version.
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I’ve been using either the Universalis app or the iBreviary app depending on where I am at the time, but I don’t think those are approved versions for Canada, are they?

Do you know if there is a Canadian app? Or would it be “English speaking world outside of the US” I’ve thought of purchasing a hard copy but the app is more convenient for travel and to use in the dark.
 
Phemie said:
iBreviary app depending on where I am at the time, but I don’t think those are approved versions for Canada, are they?
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It doesn’t matter if they’re approved in Canada specifically or not - if they’ve been approved by any particular Bishop, they are approved for use in the entire Church.
 
I’m less familiar with English versions as I either use Latin or Latin/French. However if you don’t mind praying in French, a friend sent me this link to an app (if you’re an Apple user):


I haven’t yet studied it in detail but it looks well done and based on approved texts, but doesn’t have the Office of Readings from what I can tell.
 
I’m not so sure its that big of a deal. Its not a study bible, with footnotes, its a book of scripture, prayers, hymns, and writings of the Church Fathers. Perhaps, if it is edited by a Protestant, it may not include readings from the Deuterocanonical texts, but I would not think there is danger that it is going to subvert our faith, unless one is not secure in faith, or well catechized, it may not be an issue at all.
 
Hereiam said:
I’m not so sure its that big of a deal. Its not a study bible, with footnotes, its a book of scripture, prayers, hymns, and writings of the Church Fathers. Perhaps, if it is edited by a Protestant, it may not include readings from the Deuterocanonical texts, but I would not think there is danger that it is going to subvert our faith, unless one is not secure in faith, or well catechized, it may not be an issue at all.
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The problem isn’t necessarily with the text contained in the book itself, as it is the purpose for which the book is used.

The Breviary is a Liturgical book. So any version of it which is not approved by the Church for liturgical use, means that if you attempt to celebrate the Liturgy with that book, your attempt is invalid and will not be an act of Liturgy - it will merely be a private devotional prayer.

If all you want to do is pray a private devotional, fine. But if you want to celebrate the Liturgy of the Church, you are bound to use an approved version.

And there is a very important difference between Liturgical public prayer, and devotional private prayer. Liturgical public prayer is a devotion which increases the sanctity of the soul doing the devotion - but it’s more than that. In a mystical way, liturgical prayer also sanctifies time and space itself around the soul - it is the prayer of Christ Himself, and it advances the peace and salvation of the whole world.

Private prayer, on the other hand, only sanctifies the person praying - intercessory prayer can help sanctify others as well, but not to the same degree which public prayer does.
 
OraLabora said:
I’m less familiar with English versions as I either use Latin or Latin/French. However if you don’t mind praying in French, a friend sent me this link to an app (if you’re an Apple user):
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I’m going to check that one out for my iPad mini, where I already have iBreviary and Universalis.

Not as familiar with the French psalms, having been away from French liturgy for most of the last 20 years, but they’ll at least be recognizable. The hymns, though, will be totally unfamiliar.
 
Have you tried iBreviary? I’ve found some minor glitches but overall it seems to work well, and has the advantage of multiple languages, so that if you’re visiting another country you can follow along.
 
@phemie @oralabora
I’ve found iBreviary to more or less follow my (approved) US version of Christian Prayer; I’ve not compared extensively, but I’ve never found an obvious difference, either. I know that Universalis uses the UK English approved version, so I typically only use it in cases of necessity or curios comparison.

Edit to add: I thought the UK version was “everywhere but the US”, but I’m not sure now if I actually read that somewhere officially or if I made the assumption.
 
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OraLabora said:
Have you tried iBreviary? I’ve found some minor glitches but overall it seems to work well, and has the advantage of multiple languages, so that if you’re visiting another country you can follow along.
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I’ve got both iBreviary and Universalis. Each has its good points.

I use Universalis when I’m by myself because I like the praying together aspect of it but I prefer iBreviary because the solid hymns. Some of those hymns are less familiar to me so I usually look them up on youtube ahead of praying and switch between youtube and iBreviary for the hymn and the Marian anthems at the end of Compline. Or I look through my hymnal’s metrical index to find a tune I know with the same metre.
 
Oh, like the previous poster I thought we used the same as the UK in Canada. I thought that’s what it said at the beginning of the 4 volume Breviary I had access to when I worked at the parish.
 
No. The English North American set is the 4 volume LOTH. England and Wales uses the 3 volume Divine Office. (I didn’t say UK because I’m not sure about Scotland as they are a separate bishops conference).

Of course for Mass readings, the UK, US, and Canada all use different versions.
 
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